Rock O Plane Questions

Kaelan

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 12:27 AM

I am 17 years old, and i rode this ride when i was 10. But it wasn't the actual rock o plane "experience", because my seat was locked from spinning. all of them were, i don't know why. For some reason.. when i see it now i get REALLY scared, and back out of riding it. even though i want to so bad. How much more intense is the spinning seats versus the locked seats? Overall, how scary is the experience?

bjames

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 1:34 AM

It's a pretty thrilling ride, though the one I've been on several times is really hard to get the cage to flip, I think I must be too light or something. I don't know what you mean by "locked," was it just your average ferris wheel ride like that?

rollergator

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 2:06 AM

There's a circular handle (clearly visible on the link) handle you can pull on to lock the cage, so the only "spinning" is due to the motion of the ferris wheel type mechanism. Watch this - at 0:33, and again at 2:51, you'll see the rider engage the lock briefly. The latter one is well-timed for a head-first dive.

RCMAC

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:04 AM

Where is this Rock-o-Plane that's locked all the time? I'd ask for my money back. It also means, as Chaindog points out, that the cars would be stationary throughout the circuit meaning riders waiting while the ride loads/unloads would be suspended on their face, on their backs, or upside down for a period which seems like a poor operating choice.

Unless by "locked" you mean the grabbing mechanism is disabled and all you get to do is ride around like a ferris wheel. Still, a refund, please.

Mr. Gator's description is accurate. The Rock-o-Plane has an ingenious mechanical device that allows the rider to control the experience- you should be able to keep your bar forward and rock back and forth without flipping if you like, or pull the bar back anywhere along the circle and lock the car in place for a loop. You can lock it at the bottom for a standard loop, at the top for a near ground face-plant, or on the way up for a head first dive on the way back down. A skilled rider knows how to work the car so actual flips can be managed and a really skilled rider can flip it in the opposite direction while the wheel turns.

The fun of the Rock-o-Plane is in the speed. The ride turns the opposite direction of a typical ferris wheel, in other words, at the bottom you move forward rather than backwards. They are cable driven and if run properly move at a pretty fast clip. I would get so mad at Wyandot Lake's ride- it had been tamed so that it was really slow and the loops were boring and there was absolutely no chance to work a flip. Which is what they probably knew...

I haven't been on one in years although one plays the Ohio State Fair very year. I'm not sure I could take the motion now, or for that matter, fit in that tiny cage!

If I was a ride manufacturer I would take the simple, effective Rock-o-Plane concept and rework it into a larger wheel with better capacity for the theme park customer. It worked for the Loop-o-Plane- Kamikaze's and the like are everywhere. It's a tried and true winner in my book. (and I've got a really old book)

ShaneDenmark

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:08 PM

I haven't see one of those in ages... SeaBreeze used to have one. Went on it once when I was pretty young, had no idea it had any sort of controls. The rode attendant spun the cage after locking the door and the cage just rocked (what seemed to me, anyway) ridiculously fast and I screamed in terror the whole time. Never went on another one... We always called them Egg Rollers!

RideMan

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 11:01 PM

If the tub was locked in place, the solution is to pull back on the ring to disengage the lock bar from the sawtooth on the front of the tub. If it's too tight, hit the outboard edge of the lock bar with your hand to knock it out of the sawtooth. That arm is spring steel and is biased to the released position. It is only there so the operator can lock the tub in place for loading and unloading.

RCMAC, are you sure we rode the same ride at Wyandot? I got some awesome rides on that one and was rather disappointed when they replaced it with a Tilt-N-Hurl.

RCMAC

Thursday, June 13, 2013 7:50 AM

That ride was sloooooow, especially in its last seasons. Another tamed ride was their King Frolic- It revolved so slowly the cars swung out only slightly. When I was a kid it went so fast the cars stuck almost straight out. We'd spin those seats til we were sick.

Hey, for that matter, Wyandot's Scrambler was slow, too. No need to worry about your hairdo on that one!

I wonder what happened to those old rides, especially that Frolic which would be a relic. Not too many of those out there anymore. I wish they'd hung onto their Looper/Rock n Roll, too, as that would be another fun one to see. I always heard they had it in storage somewhere. Does anyone know where Knoebels found theirs?